This time of year, there are a TON of Black Friday tool deals, Holiday deals, special buys, promos, bundles, and so forth. Except… on the tools you need and want to buy. This promo is different, saving you money on bare Milwaukee cordless power tools.
There is a catch – you have to buy more to save more. You “okay” savings with $299+ orders, better savings with $399+ orders, and max savings (dollar amount and percentage-wise) with $499+ orders.
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If you’ve been planning to upgrade your kit, buy a bunch of Milwaukee’s new cordless offerings, or buy a single big-ticket tool or two, this might be your best bet at decent savings.
Milwaukee’s M12 Fuel installation drill/driver, for example, is not likely to be discounted for Black Friday. Here’s your chance to save some money on it, and other bare tools like it.
Unfortunately, tool kits aren’t eligible, but it would be awesome if they were. There are just a couple of exclusions, listed below. The 0880 cordless vac, for example, is already at promo pricing, and so it can’t be discounted further.
- Spend $299+, Save $25
- Spend $399+, Save $50
- Spend $499+, Save $75
Coupon Code: MILBARE
Deal ends 11/21/19. Excludes 2719-20, 2760-20, 2780-20, 2631-20, 0880-20, 2365-20, 2354-20, 2361-20, 8960-20.
Chris S says
These particular deals from acme have abysmal savings overall.
In order to maximize your % off you have to spend NO MORE than the minimum price required to qualify for each tier.
In order to save ~8.4% off your order you can’t spend more than $300.
In order to save ~12.5% off your order you can’t spend more than $400.
In order to save ~15% off your order you can’t spend more than $500.
This is before you even factor in tax on your purchase.
Also, the deal depreciates in value even more when you spend over the target amount (i.e. spending $390 before tax would leave you in tier 1, which effectively gives you a savings of ~6.4%).
In my opinion, these deals gained popularity with ACME and other retailers because they allow the seller to maximize profits when offering such an “incentive”. I believe this is why we don’t see a flat 10%, 15%, 20%, etc. off of your purchase amount anymore.
As a buyer, it is far more difficult to maximize your savings with these type of deals and ultimately not worth it 95% of the time (i’m sure someone will make the argument about that “one” tool that never goes on sale).
As for the mention about the m12 installation drill/driver, buy it in store at home depot (this includes the kit and a “free” 6ah battery) and take the battery back for a return* (the receipt will have the kit and battery as separate items).
You end up paying ~$160 + tax for the kit (about $20 less than the bare tool option).
*this doesn’t work for online purchases.
Stuart says
At the moment, you can’t buy that installation tool bundle at Home Depot – it’s listed as not being available for online purchase or for in-store pickup. There’s inventory listing. I haven’t seen this at the local stores yet either.
Percent-off deals might be better, but you also have max savings caps, and usually more exclusions.
Money-off deals do indeed give max savings right above a threshold.
I did the math too – 15% off of a $499 purchase is quite good. $75 off a $1500 purchase is not so good.
Last year’s Cyber Monday discount had a $50 savings cap. $75 > $50.
If someone has a bunch of bare Milwaukee tools on their wishlist, this deal will save them money. It might not be good for you, but I’m sure it’ll help some users.
I’ve played the waiting game in the past, and will probably do it again in the future. But sometimes a better deal does not come around quick enough..
Chris says
https://brickseek.com/home-depot-inventory-checker/?sku=310729845
This site is sometimes helpful when I go deal hunting. The Home Depot website is not always that reliable for in store items that are either clearance or promo items.
I don’t disagree with your point about “Money-off deals do indeed give max savings right above a threshold”.
For example on a $100 purchase:
$10 off $100 is 10% and if I can get something for exactly $100 dollars the deal works to it’s maximum advantage, but if everything is $99 (as most retailers are inclined to do) I have to find a “filler” item and either get some potentially useless trinket to edge over the threshold or buy more stuff and decrease my savings.
10% off (with a max of $200 savings as our cap) means that I can buy that $99 item and still save 10% no matter what.
I could also spend $2,000 and still get 10% off.
My point is that these “$ off $” deals are usually more beneficial to the seller and not the buyer.
If I use your link to the deal and sort by price, I come up with two items that are closest to $500.
An M18 10″ Miter saw that is $499 needs a filler item to work (This deal isn’t the best to begin with because of deals with free 8AH batteries or saw stands on other retailers websites).
https://slickdeals.net/f/13583725-milwaukee-2734-21hd-m18-fuel-dual-bevel-sliding-compound-miter-saw-458-tax-free-shipping?src=SiteSearchV2_SearchBarV2Algo1
The M18 Radius site light needs a filler as well ( and if you really wanted a radius light this would have been better.
https://slickdeals.net/f/13546777-today-only-11-11-milwaukee-2150-20-m18-radius-site-light-charger-w-one-key-tool-only-cpo-more-355-99?src=SiteSearchV2_SearchBarV2Algo1
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all your deal posts. I just bring this up for the people that don’t understand how quickly this deal can go south. It has nothing to do with the “waiting game”. I would honestly be curious how many of your visitors are actually going to spend enough money to get the 15% off (a minority, i’m sure).
I wish your site had polls for visitors to vote on. You keep doing these posts asking people if they think it’s a good idea and I read responses ranging from detailed to flat-out garbage (“i hate such and such brand, why did you post about X when I wanted to here about Y, can we move on now, etc.). Maybe something like this.
https://www.strawpoll.me/
Maybe an A,B,C option would filter out some stuff.
Herb Britt says
Acme doesn’t charge tax.
Chris says
Maybe not for you…yet.
But they do collect tax in certain states as required.
Evadman says
Well, not a discount on the installation driver, but a free 6AH battery added? I actually have it in my cart because I was about to buy it today, then checked my bank account.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/310729845
Chris S says
Read my post about buying it in store.
Stuart says
Out of stock online, can’t be purchased in stores.
Rman says
I picked up the m12 install tool and free 6ah battery at my local HD last week in store. It was the last one and put by the door/window install area?
Chris says
I have seen them in several stores around TN and GA (One even yesterday). YMMV